You could forgive Chaim Bloom if he decided he wanted to break from his usual ways and just start launching harpoons at Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees.
Cashman, ever smug, was patronizing as all get-out this offseason when he handed Adam Ottavino and pitching prospect Frank German to the Red Sox for basically nothing. The Red Sox also poached Garrett Whitlock from the Yankees in the Rule 5 Draft back in December, and both he and Ottavino have been a huge part of Boston's elite bullpen.
All the while, Cashman's team is a puddle, suffering perhaps their worst loss of the season Wednesday against the Los Angeles Angels. Now, New York sits 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Red Sox in the American League East standings.
Bloom, in his second season calling the shots for the Red Sox, is refraining from taking any victory laps at this point.
"Cash isn’t afraid to throw some zingers, including at himself,” Bloom told The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy. “He has a good sense of humor that way, and I think you have to in this game. You can’t ever think you have this thing figured out, because we all have things on our transcript we regret.
"So I’m certainly not going to be out there zinging other people, because I know there’s going to be plenty of fodder to throw right back at me."
A wise approach by Bloom, although there might not be a single general manager in baseball who at the end of June would be roasting his counterparts.
Regardless, the Bloom and the Red Sox have stuff figured out right now. Cashman and his ballclub? Not quite.
